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Friday, January 31, 2014

Undiscovered Link's Awakening Song?

Later December and into the earlier days of this month, I picked up Link's Awakening again and played around with the Dog House Glitch some more. For those of you unfamiliar with this, it's a really simple glitch that's present in all versions of the game, as far as I know, including the 3DS Virtual Console. All you have to do is get behind the Dog House next to Madam MeowMeow's house at just the right position, and then head down and to the left, and then... presto! You're inside the "Karma Zone"! It's a very glitched up area containing enemies and textures that have been... corrupted or changed or something. It takes sprites from other things and puts them in the wrong places. Like, I've been attacked by a horde of evil Grandma Ulriras before that were supposed to be Ghini in a black room that was supposed to be in the third dungeon or so. And then I'll get Golden Leaves at completely random moments in here, even on  files in which I've already collected all the Golden Leaves. Oh, and the disembodied Crazy Tracy heads with swords are always fun.

I should probably write a post just on my adventures during this glitch. Hmm...

Regardless, the bottom line is that this glitch is also known as the "Karma Zone" because it changes a bit depending on how many enemies you've killed. The layout is, from a general perspective, usually the same; you almost always start off in the same room. But certain sprite swaps might be different, and new and exciting invisible walls might have formed. You never know what you'll find.

Now, I first heard about this glitch a while ago -- around the time I was on what I called my "Link's Awakening high", when pretty much every post I wrote at least MENTIONED the game -- and have been experimenting with it for a long time. My favorite rendition of the Dog House Glitch was made this one time that I was playing around on my sister's file. She's only completed the first dungeon, and I'd just collected BowWow when I decided to try this glitch, because her file doesn't have all the items, so with a little luck I was hoping I could find some higher-level items in there and maybe sequence break a little bit (in fact, one time I found the Bow in there, and then the music freaked out, but that's another story). I enjoyed it because I wasn't too trapped; sometimes you'll get Karma Zones that start you off surrounded by invisible walls and you can't even go anywhere. But no, this one was wide and open and gave me lots of freedom. Therefore, I've had a backup from this file after I killed the number of enemies that I thought made the most fun "karma zone" since January 2nd, 2013. So, recently, I decided to revisit it.

I was showing off to a friend who had played Link's Awakening but had never heard of the glitch. Then, as a started heading north and eventually ended up at the entrance to what looked like Face Shrine... a peculiar song started to play. Neither of us recognized it. I eventually got stuck and was forced to reset the glitch by returning to my save state, but with a bit of searching, I found the music again. When I got home, I made the video you see below.


I don't know about you guys, but this song sounds very, very familiar to me. I have no idea why. No one I knew that knows a thing about video games could recognize it, though. I went through the soundtrack of Link's Awakening and went over all the songs, and this tune is not in there.

But here it is, playing in the Dog House. A legitimate copy of the game from the 3DS eShop.

Link's Awakening is known for its Easter Eggs. It had three musical ones in particular that I can think of: Totaka's Song in Richard's Villa, the secret "ZELDA" song on the menu screen, and the secret "MOYSE" menu song in the German version of the game. But is it really possible that after all of this time, one song has somehow been left undiscovered? I mean, we're talking twenty-one years since the game's release. Twenty. One.

So am I missing something? I brought this up with the people at the Zelda Dungeon Wiki, and none of them recognized it, either. One of the admins said he had gone through the sound files of a Link's Awakening ROM and never seen this there before, but he said that some of the other Easter Egg songs don't show up there either.

Anyone have any ideas where it might be from?

Just to clarify about the glitch a bit here... I can get back to this at any time. As you see in the above video, I can go north every single time and take the same path to that one room, and then going either left or right starts the song playing. And that's EVERY time I go to the left or the right. Around 2:49 in the video, you'll notice me go into the right room, go to the left, and then return to the right room... and if you listen carefully, the music restarts there for some odd reason. Does that mean it's linked to the unglitched counterparts of those rooms? The one to the right is obviously a cave (I think the one connecting Ukuku Prairie to Animal Village, perhaps) and the one to the left looks like... the House by the Bay or something? Not sure. Then again, when I enter from the bottom of that left room -- the one with the bed -- the song does not start playing. I have to go to the right and then left to make it start. (Right below it is a Fairy Fountain, and that music plays instead and continues even when I'm in this bed room. But after going right and then left again, this "undiscovered" song cancels out the Fairy Fountain one.)

Unfortunately, there's not much I can do for people who are interested in hearing this song for themselves, except suggest that they explore the area that I got to. Like I said, this glitch is altered slightly depending on how many enemies you've killed, and considering that I made this save state a year ago and I wasn't really counting anyway... I have no idea what that number for this file might be. You can... try beating the first dungeon and getting to BowWow normally, and then start killing enemies one by one and testing to see if you get a similar area? XD Like I said, I had rescued BowWow at this point, which is why I've got eyeballs and Ropes and Peahats and floating tiles following me for the majority of the video...

I hope you all enjoyed that, though, and that someone can help me identify this. I am really praying that it's not actually a normal song in Link's Awakening that I just don't recognize, because that'll make me sound really silly. XD

Have a good day, everyone! But before I finish this post, I want to leave you with one other... erm.... "undiscovered" Link's Awakening song that I found one day in the Dog House glitch. It's an older video of poor quality since it was on my phone. I'd just found the Bow in that chest next to me before I was supposed to, and then... this absolutely GORGEOUS song started. I'm sure you'll love it. My favorite part is totally that one note around 1:31. I suggest you turn your volume up ALL the way so you can hear that part REALLY well.



Aren't terrifyingly deep tones, erratic drumbeats, explosion sound effects, and ear-piercing GameBoy shrieks GREAT?

(I sincerely apologize if you actually turned your volume up.)